Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgments
PREFACE
Quiz 1 - Origins
Quiz 2 - Biology
Quiz 3 - The Bible and Religion
Quiz 4 - Quotations (Part I)
Quiz 5 - Quotations (Part II)
Quiz 6 - Geography
Quiz 7 - American History
Quiz 8 - Food
Quiz 9 - Science
Quiz 10 - Literature
Quiz 11 - Astronomy
Quiz 12 - Names (Part I)
Quiz 13 - Names (Part II)
Quiz 14 - Time
Quiz 15 - Sports
Quiz 16 - Music/Instruments
Quiz 17 - Words
Quiz 18 - Inventors/Inventions
Quiz 19 - Hodgepodge
Quiz 20 - Botany
Quiz 21 - Physics
Quiz 22 - Slang
Quiz 23 - Insects and Related Things
Quiz 24 - Measurements
Quiz 25 - Language/Initials/ Mottos
Quiz 26 - World History
Quiz 27 - Famous People
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
A PERIGEE BOOK
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2010 by Rod Evans
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PERIGEE is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. The “P” design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evans, Rod L., 1956-
p. cm.
“A Perigee book.”
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN : 978-1-101-18810-1
1. Questions and answers. I. Title.
AG195.E84 2010
031’.023—dc22 2009051988
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My deep thanks go to my literary agents, Sheree Bykofsky and Janet Rosen; my excellent editor at Perigee, Meg Leder; Perigee’s summer intern, Brian Sweeney; freelance copyeditor Candace Levy; my colleague Alison Schoew, who gave me some excellent advice; my friends Justin Gruver and Rob Stewart, who helped edit the typescript; and my good friend and extraordinary administrative assistant, known for her superlative word-processing skills, Robin Hudgins.
This book has been enriched by the hard work of many people. I am grateful.
PREFACE
Although most of us know a great deal, much of what we think we know “ain’t so.” We all harbor misconceptions that seem to make sense because they have been reinforced by other people who, like us, have accepted popular beliefs. Many misconceptions are accepted not only because they are popular but also because they connect well with what many people consider common sense.
It makes sense to believe, for example, that German chocolate originated in Germany rather than the truth: that German chocolate is so named because it was created by Sam German. Further, it makes sense to believe that Mercury is the hottest planet because of its closeness to the sun, even though the hottest planet is Venus, most of whose atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Similarly, it makes sense to believe that buttermilk contains butter and that Danish pastry is from Denmark.
Not one of those beliefs, however, is true.
Although some misconceptions come from misnomers or misleading names, other misconceptions come from believing what appears credible in light of what is known. Indeed, many misconceptions are accepted precisely because they are plausible. For example, the more people know about Thomas Jefferson’s political philosophy, the more likely they will believe—erroneously—that he wrote, “That government is best which governs least.” Those words, however, were not from Jefferson. Although they were quoted without attribution in Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience,” there is dispute over their original authorship.
Some misconceptions are so common that they are embraced by even cartoon characters. For example, in a particularly popular episode of The Simpsons, “Bart vs. Australia,” Lisa tells Bart that toilets in the Northern Hemisphere (including America) drain counterclockwise, whereas those in the Southern Hemisphere drain clockwise. Lisa’s confusion stems from misunderstanding the Coriolis Effect, the inertial force that deflects objects moving above the Earth—rightward in the Northern Hemisphere and leftward in the Southern Hemisphere (including Australia). Bart Simpson doesn’t accept Lisa’s conclusions, calls up Australians to find the truth about their toilets, and manages to create a diplomatic incident. Factually, it was Lisa, however, who was mistaken. Australian toilets flush in the same direction as toilets in the Northern Hemisphere. Although the Coriolis Effect can and does influence large bodies of water and air masses in the atmosphere, its influence on the direction of tiny quantities of water in a sink or a toilet bowl is negligible compared to the effect of the shape of the receptacles and the direction from which they were filled.
The art of debunking, though useful and enjoyable, requires good judgment. For example, although a tomato is, botanically speaking, a fruit (the ripened reproductive body of a seed plant), in most culinary contexts we treat it as a vegetable. Botanically, a cucumber is also a fruit, yet people who treat it as a vegetable in a salad are not necessarily unenlightened. Because tomatoes and cucumbers can, in some contexts, be treated as vegetables, it would be pedantic and obnoxious to condemn people for believing that tomatoes and cucumbers are vegetables rather than fruits. Debunking should, then, be done with discretion.
Similarly, in astronomical circles, Pluto no longer has the same planetary status it had before 2006, yet the reclassification of Pluto was not a discovery of a new fact but more like a verdict on facts already acknowledged. Schoolchildren who are now taught that Pluto is not a full-fledged planet are not, on that account, necessarily more enlightened than children of previous generations. The upshot is that those who s
eek to debunk misconceptions need tact, understanding, and, yes, humility. The beliefs of today’s debunkers may be overturned tomorrow in the light of new or better evidence or evidence that has been more carefully examined.
Some debunkers, for example, take great pleasure in asserting that the Baby Ruth candy bar was not named after Babe Ruth. That assertion, however, is open to question. Those who make the assertion note that the official position of the Curtiss Candy Company, which produces the bar, has always been that the name of the candy bar has nothing whatever to do with the world-famous baseball player but was named after Ruth Cleveland, President Grover Cleveland ’s firstborn daughter, who had died of diphtheria in 1904, more than seventeen years before the Baby Ruth candy bar was introduced. Many people, however, including the researchers at Snopes.com, find it curious that a candy bar named Baby Ruth should be named after the long-dead child of a former American president and that it should appear on the market just when Babe Ruth had become the most famous person in America.
Why would the representatives of a candy company concoct a story about the name of an increasingly popular product? Fear of a lawsuit is one possible answer. Because the candy company had not gotten Babe Ruth’s permission to use what looks like a form of his name, they might have been sued—successfully—by Babe Ruth. In fact, Curtiss did have to defend itself against at least one challenge to its name. A competitor, with approval from Babe Ruth, called its candy the Babe Ruth Home Run Bar. Curtiss, asserting that its candy bar was named for Ruth Cleveland, forced the competing bar off the market because its name too closely resembled that of Curtiss’s own product. In short, there is reason to think that the Baby Ruth candy bar was named after Babe Ruth. At the very least, there is some reason for doubting the story about Ruth Cleveland. Had the bar come out in 1904, the year of Ruth Cleveland ’s death and a time long before Babe Ruth dominated the news, there would be no reason to doubt the official story.
This book, though informative, is designed to be fun. If you love trivia and pride yourself on being well informed, you should enjoy this book. If you like to engage in friendly bets, you may find this book profitable. If you like to discover the true or probable origins of words, quotations, and inventions, you’ll most likely find much to interest you. Finally, if you like deflating the egos of know-it-alls, you should have ample ammunition.
I encourage readers to question and check any assertions made in this book. If you, the reader, enjoy this book, I shall be amply satisfied. If you not only enjoy it but also learn something, I shall feel useful. I created this book principally to entertain people. If some people also learn to question a bit more often, to be less sure of a few things, and to understand that even scientific propositions are correct only after suitable qualification, I shall be not only satisfied but also grateful.
Rod L. Evans
Quiz 1
Origins
1. Where did India ink originate?
2. Where did Panama hats originate?
3. Where did the Norway rat originate?
4. In what country was Hollandaise sauce created?
5. Where did Dutch clocks originate?
6. Where did the polka originate?
7. Where did Chinese checkers originate?
8. Where did Danish pastries originate?
9. In what country did French horns originate?
10. Where is Venetian glass made?
11. In what country did Great Danes originate?
12. Where did guinea pigs originate?
13. Which nation invented vodka?
14. According to the evidence, where did French fries probably originate?
15. Where do Jordan almonds come from?
16. Where did French poodles originate?
17. Where did the ukulele originate?
18. In what city did the Harlem Globetrotters originate?
19. Where did Venetian blinds originate?
20. Where did tulips originate?
21. Where do diamonds originate?
22. What was the original purpose of what we today call an umbrella?
23. In what country did Russian dressing originate?
24. Where did coffee originate?
25. Where did the bagpipe originate?
26. Where did bullfighting originate?
27. Where did (sweet) oranges originate?
28. Where did pineapples originate?
Quiz 1 Answers
Origins
1. India ink originated in China.
2. Panama hats originated in Ecuador. They were shipped first to Panama before being shipped to their destinations in Asia, the rest of the Americas, and Europe. Many imitations exist, including those made in Hong Kong.
3. The Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) originated in North China.
4. Hollandaise sauce, made after the manner of a Dutch sauce, originated in France.
5. Dutch clocks originated in Germany.
6. The polka did not originate in Poland but in eastern Bulgaria, from which it spread to Prague, Czechoslovakia, in the 1830s. The polka reached Paris by 1840 and swept the dance floors of Europe and the United States. In Poland, a variation did develop, becoming the familiar Polish polka.
7. Chinese checkers did not originate in China; rather, the game with colored marbles in a star-shaped board is a modern version of a nineteenth-century English game called Halma, which became popular in the United States during the 1930s. Although the game of Chinese checkers is played in China, it entered there from England via the United States and Japan.
8. Danish pastries did not originate in Denmark but in Austria. Inspired by Turkish baklava, Danish pastries derived their name from the Danish cook L. C. Klitteng, who popularized them in western Europe and the United States in the early twentieth century and who baked Danish pastries for U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1915. In Denmark and much of Scandinavia, Danish pastries are called Viennese bread.
9. French horns originated in Germany.
10. Venetian glass is made not in Venice but in Murano, an island suburb of Venice.
11. Great Danes originated not in Denmark but in Germany.
12. Guinea pigs did not originate in Guinea, Africa, but in South America’s Andes.
13. Vodka (“little water” in Russian) originated in Poland, not in Russia.
14. French fries originated not in France but in Belgium. A gentleman of Liège named Rodolphe de Warsage, who was born in 1876, wrote of bringing home French fries from the shops where they were prepared. The delicacy spread to the north of France, especially to Lille.
15. Jordan almonds come not from Jordan but from Spain. The name is a corruption of the Middle English jardin almande, jardin being the Middle French and modern French for “garden.”
16. French poodles originated in Germany, where the poodle was bred and trained to jump into water to retrieve ducks. By the way, French poodle doesn’t describe an official type of poodle; those designations are standard, miniature, and toy.
17. The ukulele originated not in Hawaii but in Portugal. The ukulele is a slight variation of the Portuguese cavaquinho, an instrument that evolved from a small guitar called a machete. Portuguese sailors, in the late 1800s, brought the cavaquinho to the Sandwich Islands (which were renamed Hawaii). The Hawaiians called the instrument ukulele, from Hawaiian uku (“flea”) and lele (“ jumping”).
18. The Harlem Globetrotters originated in Chicago. No players were from New York. The Harlem Globetrotters were organized in Chicago by Abe Saperstein in 1926. Saperstein chose the name Harlem to call attention to the ethnicity of the players and to persuade people to “think they had been around.”
19. Although Venetian blinds were popular in Venice, they originated in Japan, where they were made from bamboo.
20. Tulips originated not in the Netherlands, with which they have long been associated, but in central Asia. In fact, both the flower and its name originated in the Persian Empire. The flower is indigenous to Iran, Afghanistan, Turke
y, and other parts of central Asia.
21. Diamonds originate from volcanoes, formed under extreme heat and pressure beneath the earth and brought to the surface in volcanic eruptions.
22. The original purpose of umbrellas was to provide shade from the sun. They appeared in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Chinese art and have been around for thousands of years. True, some umbrella-like objects came to be used by the Chinese to protect people from the rain, but the first use of the objects was to protect people from the sun. When the Chinese used them to protect against the rain, they waxed or lacquered them.
23. Russian dressing was invented in the United States in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Some claim that the name came from the condiment’s originally including caviar, a food associated with Russia. During the cold war, many United States restaurants called the dressing sweet tomato dressing.
24. Coffee originated not in Latin America but in Africa, in Kaffa, a southwest province of Ethiopia. In fact, etymologists link the word coffee to “Kaffa.” Before Jesuit missionaries introduced the plant to Columbia and other parts of Latin America, Arab traders had brought the seed home from Africa and grew their own plant, known as Coffea arabica.
25. The bagpipe did not originate in Scotland, but it did become a national symbol there soon after it was first introduced in the fifteenth century. Pipes with a bag attached were written about in ancient times and were depicted in ancient Egyptian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman art. The bagpipe was used in Europe from 900 to 1500 and in the British Isles, where the Romans introduced it, during the early Middle Ages.
26. Bullfighting has roots in prehistoric bull worship and sacrifices, as when ancient soldiers in the Roman Empire killed sacred bulls in religious ceremonies. Indeed, bullfighting is often linked to Rome, where human beings would often fight animals in public contests. Some theorists believe that bullfighting was introduced into Hispania by Emperor Claudius during his short-lived ban on gladiatorial games. From Spain, bullfighting spread to Spanish Central and South American colonies and then to France in the nineteenth century.
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